Loading and unloading an endless web in a cartridge

ABSTRACT

Two cartridges are shown herein which have the capability of storing a folded endless loop of tape. The cartridges are designed so that by pneumatic pressure the loop of tape may be unloaded from the cartridge by a controlled unfolding and reloaded into the cartridge by a controlled folding. Two cartridges are shown, one containing a porous wall to permit the appropriate air flow to control the folding and unfolding, and the other containing air passages in nonporous walls to control the folding and unfolding.

United States Patent Paul J. Arseneault Longmont;

Louis B. Feierabend, Boulder; William R. 6012, Longmont; Otto R. Luhrs,Boulder; James T. Smith, Boulder, all of C010.

June 30, 1970 Nov. 30, 1971 International Business Machines CorporationArmonlt, N.Y.

lnventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee LOADING AND UNLOADING ANENDLESS WEB IN A CARTRIDGE 9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

Int. Cl B65g 53/00 Field of Search 226/7, 97,

95,1l8,1l9;274/4R;179/1002 Z;352/78, 127; 242/197, 182; 302/2; 206/51[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,165,594 1/1965 Wootten226/97 X 3,185,400 5/1965 Maxey 226/118 X 2.995313 8/1961 Namenyi-Katzw.242/5516 3.386,?72 6/1968 Platter et a1. 226/97 X FOREIGN PATENTS 71.6281/1960 France 226/97 67,481 10/1957 France 4. 226/97 Primary ExaminerAllen N. Knowles Atmrnevx-Hanifin and Jancin and Homer L. KnearlABSTRACT: Two cartridges are shown herein which have the capability ofstoring a folded endless loop of tape. The cartridges are designed sothat by pneumatic pressure the loop of tape may be unloaded from thecartridge by a controlled unfolding and reloaded into the cartridge by acontrolled folding. Two cartridges are shown. one containing a porouswall to permit the appropriate air flow to control the folding andunfolding, and the other containing air passages in nonporous walls tocontrol the folding and unfolding.

PATENIED mlvao l97| SHEET 1 [IF 2 INVENTORS PAUL J. ARSENEAULT LOUIS BFEIERABEND WTLUAM R. GOLZ OTTO R4 LUHRS JAMES T SMITH Z MZ H ATTORNEYLOADING AND UNLOADING AN ENDLESS WEB IN A CARTRIDGE CROSS-REFERENCE TORELATED APPLICATION Application Ser. No. 51,091, filed June 30, 1970,entitled Loading and Unloading an Endless Web in a Cartridge," by P. J.Arseneault et al., filed concurrently herewith and assigned to the sameassignee as the present application, has claims considered generic tothe present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates to the storage of endless tape loops in g More P rticularly, theinvention relates to loading and unloading a tape loop in a cartridge byfolding and unfolding the loop with pneumatic pressure. The purpose isto unload and load the tape loop into a pneumatic chamber. The pneumaticchamber could either be a read station or a communication chamber toanother cartridge or a read station.

2. Description of the Prior Art Storage of endless loops in cartridgesis well known. These cartridges typically contain a folded tape whichalways remains in the cartridge. The edge of the cartridge usually hasopenings where a small portion of the tape can be engaged by a capstanand a magnetic read/write head. Thus, as the tape moves, it moves pastthese openings and does not leave the cartridge as a whole. Thesecartridges are not, therefore, concerned with completely loading andunloading a tape loop from the cartridge; neither are they concernedwith the inherent problem of how to fold and unfold the tape loop as itis loaded and unloaded.

Another type of endless tape loop storage is shown in U.S. Pat. No.2,995,313 having a reel with an eccentric post which always holds theend of the tape loop. Thus, to store the tape loop, the reel with thepost is rotated and the loop is wrapped around the hub and the post ofthe reel.

A United Kingdom Pat. No. 1,037,8l (Aug. 3, 1966) teaches an endlesstape loop stored in a column wherein the tape loop is almost entirelyloaded and unloaded from the column when it goes to a pneumatic chamberfor read/write operations. However, the storage column contains a poston the inside of the tape loop. Thus, when the tape loop ispneumatically loaded from the storage column to the reading chamber, theloop is restrained at the mouth of the cartridge by this post. The posthas pneumatic conduits to provide an air bearing between the tape andthe post as the tape is driven. This United Kingdom patent also does notfold the tape on itself as it is loaded and unloaded from the storagecolumn. The storage column contains a partition about which the tapeloop will fold once.

The shortcoming of the prior art tape loop storage cartridges and tapeloop storage reels is that they all contain restraints which never allowthe tape loop to completely leave the cartridge. Because the tape loopsare always restrained by the container in the prior art, the read/writestation for the tape loop must be positioned immediately adjacent thecontainer. Tape loops so restrained by their container cannot beinterchanged between containers. Also, all of the cartridges in theprior art are relatively large in size and do not lend themselves to alibrary data processing system containing many cartridges which can bemoved automatically.

It is an object of this invention to load and unload a cartridge with anendless tape loop without restraining the tape loop in any way to thecartridge.

It is another object of this invention to compact the size of storagecontainer required for an endless tape loop by folding the tape loop onitself as it is loaded into the cartridge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention, the aboveobjects have been accomplished by a cartridge containing a pneumaticpath for initially drawing one end of an endless web, such as a tapeloop, into the cartridge, and another pneumatic path for evacuating theinside of the tape loop to fold the tape loop upon itself, and to drawthe end of the loop into the cartridge. When the tape is being unloaded,the mouth of the cartridge is evacuated to draw the tape out of thecartridge. At the same time, a back pressure is provided by pneumaticpassages in the cartridge to hold the folds of the loop against thewalls of the cartridge until they are unfolded and drawn out by thevacuum at at the mouth of the cartridge.

In addition, the end edges of the cartridge mouth are matched to the endedges of the pneumatic chamber mouth. Thus, as the tape is movinginto-and-out-of, from-and-to, the cartridge, the edges of the tape loopwill not catch on the edge of the chamber or the edge of the cartridge.In addition, the throat of the chamber can be constricted as it arrivesat the cartridge in order to draw the tail end of the loop into thecartridge more vigorously. This will insure that the loop is completelyloaded into the cartridge.

The great advantage of our invention is that the tape loop can be movedentirely free of the cartridge in which it rides during storage. Thus,the tape loop can be moved over some distance through pneumatic chambersto a number of work stations or to another cartridge. Yet anotheradvantage of our invention is that by having the tap loop fold uponitself, the size of the cartridge is reduced and inherently willultimately reduce the size of a data processing library using thecartridges. Yet, another advantage of our invention is its low coast ofconstruction in that there are a minimum number of moving parts in theloading and unloading of the tape loop.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following more particulardescription of preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated inthe accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows one preferred embodiment ofthe invention wherein the pneumatic passages in the cartridge areaccomplished by use of porous materials in the walls. FIG. 2 showsanother preferred embodiment of the invention where the cartridge hasnonporous walls with pneumatic passages in the walls.

FIG. 3 shows a section of the cartridge in FIG. 2 as it begins to loadan endless tape loop from an adjoining pneumatic chamber.

FIG. 4 shows an end view of the cartridge in FIG. 3 with the endlesstape loop being loaded into the cartridge and about one half of the loopalready stored in the cartridge.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of FIG. 4 with a tape loop being loaded intothe cartridge.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. I a cut-a-way of thecartridge made of porous wall material is shown. Inside the cartridge isa cut-a-way section of an endless tape loop 10 in the stored position.

The cartridge is made up of a nonporous outer wall 12 double doors 14,and an inner porous wall 16. When the cartridge is at a loading andunloading station, the double doors 14 are swung open. Doors are hingedand spring-loaded to normally remain closed. Opening can be accomplishedeither by pneumatic or mechanical means.

Pneumatic pressure inside the cartridge to control the loading andunloading of the endless loop 10 is accomplished by a vacuum beingapplied through opening 18 in the outer cartridge wall 12. The innerporous wall 16 pneumatically connects all inner walls of the cartridgeto the opening I8.

To unload the tape loop 10 after the doors are opened, a vacuum would beapplied at the mouth of the cartridge to draw the first fold of the tapeloop out of the cartridge. To keep the entire tape loop from beingpulled out as a glob, a back pneumatic pressure is applied throughopening 18. This vacuum at opening 18 tends to hold the innermost foldof the tape loop against the back wall 20 of the cartridge. In addition,the vacuum is carried through the porous walls I6 and tends to HOUSE 515hold the folds touching the side 22 of the porous wall 16. Back pressureis much less than the vacuum at the mouth of the cartridge so that theend walls of the cartridge tend to supply air. The air supplied isevacuated through the mouth of the cartridge and thus draws the tapeloop out. Thus, with back pressure applied at opening 18 and a vacuumapplied at the mouth of the cartridge, the tape loop will be unfolded asit is drawn out of the mouth of the cartridge.

To reload the tape loop 10 back into the cartridge, the vacuum isapplied at hole 18 at the bottom of the cartridge, and the pnuematicpressure in the chamber the tape loop is coming from is released. Thevacuum at 18 draws the leading edge of the loop into the bottom of thecartridge. With the leading edge of the loop against the bottom of thecartridge, the flow of air is through the porous wall 16 at each end 23of the cartridge. Flow of air through this porous wall evacuates airfrom the inside of the tape loop. This causes the tape loop to fold uponitself in the cartridge. As the tape loop is being collapsed, the vacuumbeing drawn through the end walls 23 of the cartridge will also draw thetape loop into the cartridge. With the tail of the tape loop inside thecartridge, the doors 14 are released and enclose the stored loop. Thevacuum at hold 18 is then released and the cartridge may be manually orautomatically removed from the load/unload station.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 2 in which noporous walls are used, but instead pneumatic passages are provided in anonporous wall cartridge. In the cartridge of FIG. 2, the doors arehinged at the bottom of the cartridge. These doors are againspring-loaded in a closed position by springs mounted in the walls ofthe cartridge. The doors can be opened by pneumatic pressure. A tapeloop is not shown in FIG. 2, but would, in fact, be stored in the samemanner as shown for the cartridge in FIG. 1.

To unload the cartridge in FIG. 2, doors 26 are opened and a vacuum isapplied at the mouth of the cartridge. To control the unfolding of thestored tape loop another vacuum is applied at the back or bottom of thecartridge and acts through longitudinal ports 28 and transverse channels30 to hold the innermost fold of the tape loop to the bottom of thecartridge and to hold the other folds to the sides of the cartridge.Thus, the vacuum at the mouth of the cartridge will draw air suppliedthrough ports 34 and pull the tape loop out fold-by-fold rather than asa single glob of tape.

To reload the tape back into the cartridge, a vacuum is again applied tothe bottom of the cartridge and acts through ports 28 and channels 30 todraw the leading edge of the loop into the cartridge. A second vacuum isapplied at each end of the cartridge through passageways 32 and ports 34(only one shown in FIG. 2). The vacuum through ports 34 acts to evacuateair out of the center of the tape loop as it enters the cartridge and todraw the loop into the cartridge. Eventually, the entire tape loop willbe folded upon itself and be inside the cartridge. At this point thedoors 26 may be released and will be spring-loaded shut to hold the loopin a stored position in the cartridge. With the loop stored, vacuums atthe bottom of the cartridge through ports 28 and at the ends of thecartridges through passages 32 are released. The cartridge may then beautomatically or manually removed from the tape loading and unloadingstation.

In FIG. 3, the end of the tape loop is shown abutting against the backof the cartridge as it is just beginning to reload into the cartridge.FIG. 3 is a sectional view as seen from the end of the cartridge. Doors26 are held open by a vacuum through ports 36. The vacuum to draw thetape loop into the cartridge and to hold the leading edge of the loopagainst the back of the cartridge is applied through port 38. The flowof air to port 38 is via channels 30 and ports 28 in the cartridgewalls.

The vacuum to draw air out of the center of the loop is being appliedthrough port 34. Port 34 does the main job of folding the tape loopafter the leading edge of the tape loop abuts against the back of thecartridge. The effect of port 34 is to evacuate the center of the tapeloop and in general to draw the tape loop into the cartridge as the-tapeloop folds upon itself. After the entire loop has been folded into thecartridge, the vacuum at ports 36 is released and doors 26 close so thatthe cartridge may be manually or automatically removed from theload/unload station.

In FIG. 4, the same view of the cartridge is shown as in FIG. 3, exceptthat the tape loop is now about one-half loaded into the cartridge. Asthe tape moves into the cartridge, the loop collapses on itself due tothe vacuum in port 34 drawing the air out of the loop and then folds onitself randomly inside the cartridge.

To aid the drawing of the tape into the cartridge, the pneumatic chamber39, through which the tape loop moves, has a slight constriction. Ramps40 at the end of the pneumatic chamber act to constrict the size of thechamber. This increases the rate of air flow from the chamber and intothe cartridge when the tape loop is being reloaded into the cartridge.The increased rate of airflow, in turn, aids the final drawing-in of thetail end of the tape loop before the cartridge doors are closed.

Also shown in FIG. 4 is the fact that the vacuum port 34 on each end ofthe cartridge acts not only to evacuate the center of the loop, but toevacuate air from around the loop as it moves into the cartridge. Thisalso aids the folding of the loop upon itself and ultimately isresponsible for drawing in the trailing edge of the loop. In effect,airflow from the pneumatic chamber 39 into port 34 will push thetrailing edge of the tape loop up past the ports 34 and allow plenty ofroom for doors 26 to close.

In FIG. 5, a sectional view through the side of the cartridge and theload/unload station is shown. Passage 42 is provided so that thecartridge itself may be manually or automatically moved into position atthe load/unload station. Ports 44 are used to apply vacuum to passages32 and ports 34 at each end of the cartridge. Port 38 applies a vacuumto the back of the cartridge as previously described in FIG. 3. As shownin FIG. 5, the tape loop 10 is about one-half loaded into the cartridge.Thus, there is a vacuum being applied through port 38 and port 44. Thevacuum through port 38 acts largely to hold the end of the tape orleading edge of the tape loop against the back of the cartridge. Thevacuum through ports 44 acts through ports 34 in the cartridge toevacuate the loop and also to draw the loop in upon itself until it isentirely loaded into the cartridge.

An additional design feature shown in FIG. 5 is the rounding or bevelingof the end walls of the pneumatic chamber 39 at points 46. Also, shownis the beveling of the inside end walls of the cartridge at points 48.This beveling prevents the edge of the tape from catching on either themouth of the cartridge or the mouth of the pneumatic chamber 39 as thetape loop moves in and out of the cartridge. If this beveling is notprovided, there is a risk that the tape loop will be caught on one ofthese edges and tend to flop over as it moves between the cartridge andthe pneumatic chamber.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. Various materials may be used to form the walls of thecartridge with plastic materials being particularly attractive becauseof their low cost and ease of manufacture. The cartridge is shownapproximately at actual size in the drawings. Dimensions and size of thecartridge are not critical. The design elements common to the inventionas described comprise, among other things, the provision of some passageto draw the leading edge of the tape loop in an additional pneumaticpassage to cause the tape to fold upon itself after if enters thecartridge.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for loading and unloading an endless web between acartridge and pneumatic chamber so that when stored in the cartridge theweb is folded and when in the chamber the web is entirely free of thecartridge comprising:

first means for evacuating air through the nonporous walls of thecartridge so that, when the endless web is being loaded, the leadingedge of the web will be drawn into the cartridge and, when the web isbeing unloaded, the innermost fold of the web will be held in thecartridge until the entire loop is withdrawn;

second means for evacuating through the nonporous walls air from insidethe loop of the endless web and air from around the endless web so that,when the web is being loaded, the loop of the web will collapse and theweb will fold upon itself as it enters the cartridge;

means for supplying air through the nonporous walls to the inside of thecartridge when the web is being unloaded so that airflow out the mouthof the cartridge will draw the endless web out of the cartridge.

2. Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first evacuating means comprises:

vacuum ports through the back wall of the cartridge.

3. Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first evacuating means comprises inaddition:

channels around the back and sidewalls of the cartridge.

4. Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said second evacuating means comprisesvacuum ports through the end walls of the cartridge.

5. Apparatus of claim 1 comprising in addition means for constrictingthe throat of the chamber so that the rate of airflow is increasedduring loading and unloading of the web and thus the drawing action onthe web into and out of the cartridge is strengthened.

6. Apparatus of claim 1 comprising in addition means for beveling theend walls of the cartridge and the chamber at the mouth of the cartridgeso that the endless web will move smoothly between the cartridge and thechamber.

7. A cartridge for loading and unloading a folded tape loop between thecartridge and a pneumatic chamber comprising:

walls for containing the folded tape loop when the loop is stored in thecartridge;

a first pneumatic passage through the backwall of the cartridge forsupplying a vacuum to the back of the cartridge so that, when loadingthe tape loop, the first fold of the loop will be drawn to the back ofthe cartridge, and, when unloading the tape loop, the innermost fold ofthe cartridge is held at the back of the cartridge until the entire tapeloop is withdrawn from the cartridge;

a second pneumatic passage through the end walls of the cartridge foreither supplying air or a vacuum, the air being supplied duringunloading so that the tape loop will be drawn out the mouth of thecartridge and the vacuum being supplied during loading so that the tapeloop will collapse and fold upon itself as it enters the cartridge.

8. The cartridge of claim 7 comprising in addition a third pneumaticpassage in the sidewalls of the cartridge for supplying a vacuum to thesides of the cartridge during unloading of the tape loop so that eachfold is held in the cartridge until movement of the tape loop out of thecartridge causes the loop to unfold one fold at a time.

9. The cartridge of claim 5 comprising in addition a bevel in the endwall of the cartridge at the mouth of the cartridge for smoothing thetransition between the end walls of the cartridge and the pneumaticchamber.

1. Apparatus for loading and unloading an endless web between acartridge and pneumatic chamber so that when stored in the cartridge theweb is folded and when in the chamber the web is entirely free of thecartridge comprising: first means for evacuating air through thenonporous walls of the cartridge so that, when the endless web is beingloaded, the leading edge of the web will be drawn into the cartridgeand, when the web is being unloaded, the innermost fold of the web willbe held in the cartridge until the entire loop is withdrawn; secondmeans for evacuating through the nonporous walls air from inside theloop of the endless web and air from around the endless web so that,when the web is being loaded, the loop of the web will collapse and theweb will fold upon itself as it enters the cartridge; means forsupplying air through the nonporous walls to the inside of the cartridgewhen the web is being unloaded so that airflow out the mouth of thecartridge will draw the endless web out of the cartridge.
 2. Apparatusof claim 1 wherein said first evacuating means comprises: vacuum portsthrough the back wall of the cartridge.
 3. Apparatus of claim 1 whereinsaid first evacuating means comprises in addition: channels around theback and sidewalls of the cartridge.
 4. Apparatus of claim 1 whereinsaid second evacuating means comprises vacuum ports through the endwalls of the cartridge.
 5. Apparatus of claim 1 comprising in additionmeans for constricting the throat of the chamber so that the rate ofairflow is increased during loading and unloading of the web and thusthe drawing action on the web into and out of the cartridge isstrengthened.
 6. Apparatus of claim 1 comprising in addition means forbeveling the end walls of the cartridge and the chamber at the mouth ofthe cartridge so that the endless web will move smoothly between thecartridge and the chamber.
 7. A cartridge for loading and unloading afolded tape loop between the cartridge and a pneumatic chambercomprising: walls for containing the folded tape loop when the loop isstored in the cartridge; a first pneumatic passage through the back wallof the cartridge for supplying a vacuum to the back of the cartridge sothat, when loading the tape loop, the first fold of the loop will bedrawn to the back of the cartridge, and, when unloaDing the tape loop,the innermost fold of the cartridge is held at the back of the cartridgeuntil the entire tape loop is withdrawn from the cartridge; a secondpneumatic passage through the end walls of the cartridge for eithersupplying air or a vacuum, the air being supplied during unloading sothat the tape loop will be drawn out the mouth of the cartridge and thevacuum being supplied during loading so that the tape loop will collapseand fold upon itself as it enters the cartridge.
 8. The cartridge ofclaim 7 comprising in addition a third pneumatic passage in thesidewalls of the cartridge for supplying a vacuum to the sides of thecartridge during unloading of the tape loop so that each fold is held inthe cartridge until movement of the tape loop out of the cartridgecauses the loop to unfold one fold at a time.
 9. The cartridge of claim5 comprising in addition a bevel in the end wall of the cartridge at themouth of the cartridge for smoothing the transition between the endwalls of the cartridge and the pneumatic chamber.